Even as vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan tries to escape his bonds with “legitimate rape” Congressman Todd Akin by doing his best Barack Obama impersonation, he can’t quite bring himself to denounce his “forcible rape” bill. While he told one interviewer, on Wednesday, that “rape is rape,” when reporters aboard his campaign plane asked him about the Ryan/Akin-sponsored “forcible rape” bill, he responded that he’s “very proud” of his “pro-life record.”

It’s a clear contradiction, one that’s easy to explain. Ryan wants to take credit for being the most extreme anti-choice (including most birth control) candidate, but he doesn’t want to explain what, exactly, he meant by “forcible rape.”